‘Nation’s playlist’: San Benito’s Freddy Fender makes the cut

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Freddy Fender has been inducted into the 2025 Class of the National Recording Registry for his English/Spanish hit “Before the Next Teardrop Falls,” which shot to the top of Billboard’s pop and country charts after its release in January 1975.

The registry is a program of the Library of Congress. Each year since 2002 it has selected songs or recordings deemed “culturally or historically important for preservation.” For 2025, 25 recordings were chosen out of thousands of nominations. Recordings including Elton John’s (1973) “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” “Happy Trails” (1952) sung by Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, “El Rey” (1973) from Vicente Fernandez, “Fly Like an Eagle” (1976) by the Steve Miller Band, and Tracy Chapman’s first album, “Tracy Chapman” (1988), were inducted alongside Fender’s hit, as was Celine Dion’s (1997) single “My Heart Will Go On.”

Fender, who died in 2006, was born in San Benito in 1937 to Mexican-American migrant workers, who christened him Baldemar Huerta. Having entered singing competitions as a child, Huerta joined the Marines in 1953 at the age of 16. During his free time he practiced guitar and learned songs by stars like Ray Charles and Elvis Presley, according to a biography by Tejano/country singer-songwriter Veronique Medrano.

In 1957, after his discharge, Huerta landed a recording contract and rebranded himself “El Bebop Kid,” making it to number one on the Latin American charts with a Spanish-language version of “Don’t Be Cruel.” In 1959, he legally changed his name to Freddy Fender, though his new career soon hit a wall after an arrest for marijuana possession in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

He was hit with a five-year sentence, commuted with 18 months to go by Gov. Jimmie Davis, who allowed Fender to record an album while in prison. He returned to music in 1971. Fender’s hit “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights,” which he’d written in 1960 in a Harlingen bar as “Lonely Days and Lonely Nights,” also appeared on the album “Before the Last Teardrop Falls,” according to Medrano.

He released 15 more albums between 1975 and 1983 with at least 21 songs — many of them bilingual — making the charts. Fender’s songs have been covered the likes of Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, LeAnn Rimes and other pop and country artists. He’s also known for his later career work with super groups Los Super Seven and the Texas Tornados.

Fender’s likeness on the San Benito water tower on I-69E was dedicated the year before his death (he attended the ceremony), and in 2023 a historical marker was unveiled in San Benito honoring the city’s most famous son.

The registry’s selection of notable recordings each year is an effort to showcase the “range and diversity of American recorded sound heritage in order to increase preservation awareness,” according to the organization.

“The diversity of nominations received highlights the richness of the nation’s audio legacy and underscores the importance of assuring the long-term preservation of that legacy for future generations,” it said.

The registry currently contains 600 audio works/titles. U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Brownsville, released a statement in recognition of Fender’s induction, observing that “South Texas has some of the best musical talent in the country.”

“It is wonderful to see yet another Tejano musician being honored at the highest levels,” he said. “Freddy Fender was an outstanding musician who left a legacy of musical excellence. With his nomination, the National Recording Registry affirms what South Texans always knew: Tejano music is American music. Freddy Fender makes us even prouder to be where we’re from.”

“These are the sounds of America — our wide-ranging history and culture,” said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. “The National Recording Registry is our evolving nation’s playlist.”

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